


(In Heaven, an Angel is) Nobody in Particular

by mizface



Series: Heaven and Earth [1]
Category: due South
Genre: Alternate Universe - Angels & Demons, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-22
Updated: 2013-01-22
Packaged: 2017-11-26 10:31:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,255
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/649604
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mizface/pseuds/mizface
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Who’d have thought that Heaven was no more efficient than any of the big corporate machines on Earth?</p>
            </blockquote>





	(In Heaven, an Angel is) Nobody in Particular

**Author's Note:**

  * For [omens](https://archiveofourown.org/users/omens/gifts).



> I don't know if I would EVER have gotten to this idea on my own. It didn't come to me right away, but as I was perusing my au_bingo card, this just struck me, and practically wrote itself. So thank you omens for the prompt, which was both fun to write, and helpful for my bingo :)
> 
> Title from a George Bernard Shaw quote.

By the time Ray was called into the office, he was pissed. Beyond pissed, actually. Waiting was not his idea of a good time, especially when it involved red-tape and bureaucratic bullshit, both of which were in full force here. He’d hated it when he was alive, and now that he was a Guardian Angel (third class, which was still pretty fucking respectable, thank you very much), he hated it more. Who’d have thought that Heaven was no more efficient than any of the big corporate machines on Earth?

He stomped into the office, ignoring the seat he was offered by a cherubic drone, choosing instead to pace around the room while he waited yet some more for whoever his case worker was going to be. 

He automatically catalogued the shabby state of the desk and chair (though they were both incredibly clean, and polished to as much of a shine as something that old and crappy could be. And what was with that? Was Heaven on a budget?). He also saw that not a paper was out of place, pens and pencils all in their holder, even the paper clips looked like they’d been neatly stacked in their box. Ray ran a hand through his already disheveled hair, then looked down at his torn jeans and scuffed boots, then fanned out his dingy wings, seeing a feather here and there out of place. Oh yeah, this was a match made in Heaven. Ray barked out a laugh at the unintentional pun.

Another look around and he realized there were no personal items in the office at all. No pictures or cards, not even a coffee mug. Maybe the guy was too new to have messed the place up yet? Ray could only hope.

He was still pacing when the door opened, but stopped in his tracks when he saw the drop-dead gorgeous man enter the room, not a hair out of place, clothes pressed and neat, wings so white they nearly shone. He didn’t notice the way Ray stared, too busy intently reading from a file. _His_ file, Ray was sure, wincing inwardly at how thick it was.

“I’m sorry for your wait, G.A. Kowalski,” the man said, looking up as he introduced himself. His eyes widened as he took in Ray’s appearance, and Ray sighed, sure it wasn’t a good sign. “I’m Benton Fraser, and I’ve been assigned to review your latest transgression.”

Ray scowled at that. “It’s Ray, and I didn’t transgress anything.”

One dark eyebrow raised at that remark. “So you don’t consider manifesting in front of your charge an offense, despite the fact that the forbidden nature of doing just that is clearly stated in the handbook?” he asked, disbelief coloring his voice.

Ray crossed his arms over his chest. “Does the handbook also say I’m supposed to let my charge _die_ when I can prevent it?”

Fraser cleared his throat. “Well, if it was their time -” he started.

“If it was their time, I wouldn’t have been assigned to guard them in the first place,” Ray interrupted. “There were extracurricular circumstances – does my file list those?”

Fraser flipped through the pages, frowning. “No,” he finally answered. “In fact, it seems there are several key pages missing, forms that should have been included, especially since it seems a sentence has already been rendered.”

“What? But nobody even asked me anything!” He sat down in a chair, leaning forward, elbows resting on his knees. Great, now it sounded like he was being railroaded on top of everything else. “So what’s the damage?”

Fraser paled, and Ray’s pulse quickened. “Oh dear.”

“What? What is it?” He could feel his body tensing, and his wings started twitching.

“It seems you must have upset someone very high up.” He swallowed. 

“Oh God. Please tell me I’m not getting sent down to Cupid again.” He shuddered. _That_ had been a disaster.

“No, I’m afraid…” he pulled at his collar. “It seems you’ve been assigned to the Ring.”

That had been another thing that had shocked Ray about Heaven – it wasn’t all sweetness and light and everyone living (okay, existing, whatever) - in harmony. It was very heavily regulated, but there was fighting, some of it downright savage, and it all took place in the Ring. Guess it was a case of different strokes for different folks, as far as the definition of just what Heaven was entailed. Or maybe somebody realized that even angels needed to get their ya-yas out somehow. 

Ray slumped back into his chair, relieved. “Is that all? I’ve been in the Ring before,” he assured Fraser. “I may not look like much, but I do know how to fight.”

“Yes, I’m sure you do.”

Ray narrowed his eyes. “So why do you look so worried?”

Fraser took a deep breath, then answered, “Because you’ve been put in Ring Nine.”

It was Ray’s turn to pale; he could feel the blood drain from his face. “But that’s-” he whispered.

“That’s the Final Ring.” Fraser said. “In eternal terms, you’ve been sentenced to a fight to the death.”

Fraser had a way of understating things. Ring Nine was like the boogeyman for angels – no one really knew what it was, but nothing said about it was good. From what Ray had been able to piece together in his time in Heaven, Ring Nine was a no holds barred place. The other rings were all angel versus angel, but rumor had it that angels fought demons there, and those stuck in the Pit had nothing to lose. 

He’d also heard that anyone who went to Ring Nine ended up one of two places – down in the Pit, or with their souls so shredded there was no hope of repairing them.

All Ray knew for sure was that no one who went to fight there ever came back.

“That’s insane!” Ray said shooting up out of the chair and slapping his hands on Fraser’s desk. “No way did anything I’ve done, now or ever, should get me thrown in there.”

Fraser kept looking through the files, flipping pages back and forth, shuffling through them as he spoke. “Nevertheless, it’s what it says right here,” he said, holding out a page for Ray to take. His heart sank as he saw his name and ID number, a **Ring Nine** stamped plain as day over it in ugly gold ink.

“Listen,” he said, handing back the paper with slightly shaking hand, “I know you don’t know me, but you’ve gotta get me out of this. I’m being set up.” He poked at the file. “You said yourself there’s stuff missing – can you work with that?”

Fraser looked down at the file in his hand, and Ray closed his eyes, hoping against hope that there was more to this guy than following rules and regs without question.

“All right,” he said decisively, and Ray opened his eyes to see determination on the other angel’s face. “There’s definitely more going on here than meets the eye, and I have no intention of being part of anything underhanded.” He looked Ray in the eye and nodded. “I’ll do whatever I can.”

“Okay.” Ray blew out a relieved breath. “Okay, so hand me my file and I’ll see what’s missing.”

“You know the contents of your file? That’s against regulations.”

Ray waved that off as he took the folder out of Fraser's hands. “Write me up for it after you save my soul, okay? Right now, we have work to do.”


End file.
